Cocktails with Condensed milk
Condensed milk is cow's milk with most of the water boiled off and a lot of sugar added — a thick, very sweet concentrate.
Taste profile
Very sweet, with a rich cooked-milk, caramel flavour (think dulce de leche) and a thick, coating texture.
How it's used
Condensed milk is sweetener and creamer in one — it brings sweetness and a rich dairy body together. It's the heart of Vietnamese iced coffee, spooned in under the coffee, and it works in creamy tropical and dessert drinks. It's very sweet, so use it sparingly.
Substitutes for Condensed milk
Hard to replace, since a stand-in needs heavy sweetness and creamy body at once. Cream with a little sugar syrup comes closest; unsweetened evaporated milk or plain syrup won't do it.
Often confused with
Evaporated milk
Evaporated milk is concentrated milk with no sugar, sterilised in the tin. Condensed milk has sugar added — and the sugar, not sterilisation, is what preserves it. They look alike in the can, but the sugar makes condensed milk much sweeter and thicker.
Description
The milk is reduced and heavily sweetened; the sugar keeps it stable without sterilising. It's rich — around 8% milkfat — and intensely sweet.
